Hello all!! Welcome to Team BeMore's "Podcasting for Educators: Amateur Radio as a Tool for Expression."
We hope that you will enjoy and learn from doing this activity as much as we did in creating it for you. We think that podcasting is an important and powerful tool in a learner-centered online environment, especially as the Read/Write web has become accessible for everyone. As Will Richardson notes, "[creating] and [consuming] multimedia" has become more tangible; the web has become a great equalizer in making amateurs experienced technophiles, and we, as teachers, are among the beneficiaries. Multi-modal differentiated instruction is now easier to create, consume, deliver, and share. In this session, we'll focus on one particular knowledge-sharing tool, podcasting. Specifically, we'll discuss the benefits of audio sharing via podcasting; we'll learn how to create a podcast and how to use one in an educational setting; and we'll consider how podcasting can be used in ways that focus on content-knowledge construction in education.
This PDF file contains a multimedia presentation on the very basics of podcasting – as you see in the title the who, what, when, where, why, and hows of podcasting. Pay attention to the different class sites that are pictured and the graph at the end discussing podcasting’s cycle of emergence.
This article sets a positive tone describing how podcasts assist in creating a community of learners, promote more active engagement with course materials, and how the use and creation of student podcasting helps with research skills. The emphasis on building necessary technical knowledge and training is stressed, as students work together toward a common goal.
This article focuses on the benefits of podcasting for educators. It also discusses some of the technical issues involved such as, the voice quality in a podcast, and the editing process in a podcast presentation.
This article discusses how schools use podcasting to build and foster relations with members of the school community.
Activity Directions
Assignment 1 (Whole Group Activity)
By Friday, read the four articles provided to you (“History to Go: Why I Teach with iPods,” “Building a Better Podcast,” and “Podcasting: What, When, Why, Where, How," "Podcasting at School” ) to gain perspective on podcasting and how to use podcasting in the classroom.
By Friday, post a reply to the following questions in the ELC discussion thread labeled “Educational Podcasting”:
Do you regularly listen to any podcasts? What are they about? Why do you listen?
In general, do you see podcasting as an emerging trend, a lasting trend, or only a fad? What about for education?
By Monday, respond to one additional post.
Assignment 2 (Team and Individual Activity)
By Saturday, work with your team to create a podcast. We are only asking you to post one team podcast, though we encourage everyone to try making a podcast on their own:
In your podcast, share your team's perspective on podcasting, specifically:
Would you use podcasting in your classroom? If so, how and why?
If not, why not and/or what other media form(s) would you use instead?
To create the podcast, you can use Podomatic. For step-by-step directions on how to use Podomatic, listen to Team BeMore's cast below. You are also welcome to use other resources to create your podcast. For a quick overview of using Audacity to record and various sites to host your podcast, please review this linked Youtube video. Here is our team podcast on Podomatic:
Something to consider when creating a podcast is scripting. You may not want to have an overly detailed manuscript, but you may want to create an outline or a list of talking-points in order to stay on topic. You may also consider just having one "speaker" at a time in your podcast to allow for clarity.
Link or embed your podcast into the ELC discussion forum thread "Team Podcasts."
By Monday, listen to the other podcasts posted and individually respond to at least one.
By Monday, individually share your experience with podcasting in the ELC discussion forum thread labeled “Podcasting Experience.” Questions to consider:
What was the creating the podcast like? What was listening to it like?
Did this activity change your mind about how you view educational podcasting?
Was it easier or more difficult than you thought it might be to create one?
What was it like hearing your voice?
If you used our team podcast to create your podcast, what was it like trying to follow the content of our podcast? How do you think this might translate into the classroom?
Please, feel free to add any additional comments that you may like to add.
We hope that you will enjoy and learn from doing this activity as much as we did in creating it for you. We think that podcasting is an important and powerful tool in a learner-centered online environment, especially as the Read/Write web has become accessible for everyone. As Will Richardson notes, "[creating] and [consuming] multimedia" has become more tangible; the web has become a great equalizer in making amateurs experienced technophiles, and we, as teachers, are among the beneficiaries. Multi-modal differentiated instruction is now easier to create, consume, deliver, and share. In this session, we'll focus on one particular knowledge-sharing tool, podcasting. Specifically, we'll discuss the benefits of audio sharing via podcasting; we'll learn how to create a podcast and how to use one in an educational setting; and we'll consider how podcasting can be used in ways that focus on content-knowledge construction in education.
Required Readings
Activity Directions
Assignment 1 (Whole Group Activity)
Assignment 2 (Team and Individual Activity)